Guardian
by 14karatgold
Summary: To her mother, he’s nothing more than a figment of Garnet’s imagination, a mere hallucination that could ruin her forever. And so, she shamefully hides her daughter away in an asylum, unaware that it holds many people like Garnet—-not crazy, but Holy.
1. Author's Note

_AUTHOR'S NOTE _

_(The next chapter is an actual chapter, so I suppose you can just skip to that. This isn't really important to the story, but it's important to me, so…)_

_I'm trying something here, and I'm doing it with a new Final Fantasy X-2 story as well: I'm trying to make the AU world as similar to the actual flow of events as possible._

_See, I've read a lot of AU fics where the characters just aren't themselves, and it's begun to bother me. My own story (Not Always the Best) is the same way, and therefore I'm not entirely sure I'm going to finish it. I may do, just for fun, but I really wanted to write a story where the characters and character development are roughly similar to how they were in the game. Otherwise, what's the difference between writing the story in this fandom or another, if the characters aren't even transferred properly from the game to the AU? Seriously. I've read AU High School Fics that are so non-parallel to the game that the author could just change the names of the characters and throw the story into another fandom, and it would make no difference._

_I'm just thinking out loud, here. Bear with me._

_Oh, and thanks for reading! Sorry you had to suffer through that ridiculously long Author's note. You can continue onto the story now!  
_


	2. Prologue: Smoke and Mirrors

**Guardian**

_Summary—To her mother, he's nothing more than a figment of Garnet's imagination, a mere hallucination that could ruin her forever. And so, she shamefully hides her daughter away in an asylum, unaware that it holds many people like Garnet—Holy people._

_Rated T for yet unknown reasons._

_Romance/Drama_

_D__isclaimer—Belongs to Square whatsits (I'm never sure of their name…). This AU version is the product of my mind, but the characters, names, locations, etc. belong to Square._

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**Prologue: Smoke and Mirrors**

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"…So that was my day," a young Garnet concluded to her empty room, as her mother entered. "Yes. Such a fascinating life." She laughed heartily to herself.

Mother coughed in irritation, before putting on a cheery, fake smile.

"Whom were you talking to, dear?" she asked of her only daughter.

"My angel. Oh, it's lovely, mother! I actually have a friend to talk to!" Garnet said happily, grinning madly at her mother. "I've never had a friend before…"

Mother shifted uncomfortably. Garnet wasn't _supposed _to have friends—especially not imaginary ones… "That's wonderful, dear. Now please, come downstairs. I have someone who wants to meet you."

"Another friend?" Garnet asked hopefully, getting up obediently and brushing off her long black skirt before holding her hand out into the empty space next to her.

"…Yes. Another friend. He's here to take you to a special school where you can meet more friends," she said in a patronizing tone that Garnet didn't notice. She was lying, obviously. She was sending her daughter to a solitary, padded cell where her hallucinations couldn't hurt her mother's hard-earned reputation.

Brahne looked at her daughter sadly as the girl politely introduced herself to the stranger. She'd really wanted for Garnet to take her place when she retired…but she really couldn't hand over the family business to a girl whose sanity was in question. She sighed to herself in irritation—what was she supposed to do now? Garnet had been adopted just after she'd been born, and raised to take over the business since then. Brahne couldn't just start over! Well, she could, but she really didn't want to go through all of the intense parenting again—she was getting too old for it. _What a waste, _she sighed again, watching as their family maid, Beatrix, brought down a trunk full of Garnet's belongings and helped the man load it into his carriage. The maid then gave Garnet a hug goodbye and Brahne dutifully followed suit. _I suppose I'll just have to sell the business when I get too old. What a waste…_

"I'll miss you, mother," Garnet whispered into Brahne's ear. The woman almost began to regret her decision, until she remembered why she made it. She set her jaw forcefully and proceeded to give some pleasantry to her daughter in reply. As soon as the girl, barely sixteen years of age, climbed into the carriage next to the strange man Brahne had called to collect her, they rode away. Beatrix frowned at her mistress, but nevertheless returned to work without a word.

It was going to be different without the child around, but Brahne decided it was better this than the alternative. It was just good business, and better publicity.

_Nothing personal, darling. Nothing personal. _

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_Short, yeah, but then prologues usually are._

_So. Tell me if you agree with my author's note. Haha. I need to know if I'm just imagining things or not_. 

_Oh, and of course just a regular review would be wonderful, but I'll take what I can get._

_kt_


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